


so open your eyes and see, the way our horizons meet

by sam_writes_fics



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Jealousy, One Shot, Relationship Reveal, Santos Administration, Short One Shot, Sweet, idk man i wrote this in one sitting and never looked back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29659794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sam_writes_fics/pseuds/sam_writes_fics
Summary: How the Santos family finds out about Josh and Donna being a couple if they didn't put two and two together while they were on vacation. Set during the Santos transition.
Relationships: Helen Santos/Matt Santos, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 9
Kudos: 100





	so open your eyes and see, the way our horizons meet

**Author's Note:**

> Not my characters, just love writing them

He didn’t know how he ended up in the future First Lady’s car.

Josh remembers being at an event with the President-Elect, and the next thing he knows the President-Elect’s car has left without him. He remembers Mrs. Santos planning to leave a few minutes later in a separate car, and he remembers being dragged out of the venue by his sleeve.

It was lucky for him that he knew the future First Lady’s Chief of Staff, otherwise he might have never made it out of that party.

The days of transition were starting to blend together. Everything was moving insanely fast – as it always did during transition – and Josh was desperate for his staff to keep up with him. Lou was the only one doing a half decent job at it, and the rest were slowly learning. He was on the edge of begging them to get smarter overnight.

Of course, he had Sam, who knew his way around transition and the impending White House, and that was a huge blessing. Between the two of them they could probably whip the rest of the staff into shape by Inauguration Day. Probably.

Although Sam was a huge asset to the team, and Josh would be forever grateful for his return to DC, the biggest godsend for Josh was of course having Donna there. She was working with him again, and he valued her opinion on a multitude of things (being one of the only people in their transition offices that had actually worked in the White House before), but it was having her in his home and in his bed that really made him especially thankful for her.

Their two jobs intertwined a lot during transition. What with moving the Santos family from Houston to DC, moving into Blair House just to move again in eight weeks to the White House, and getting the kids set up in their new schools, there was a lot to take care of on the home front. Not to mention all the actual governing things they had to take care of.

Josh found that Matt could focus better if he knew that someone was watching over his family, and Matt had learned to trust Donna in doing just that. She’d only been in the position a little over two weeks, but she already had the respect of the President-Elect and his family.

Donna was good at that. Josh wasn’t at all surprised that she had managed to come in and take control of the First Family’s life, considering she had done the same to his about a decade ago.

He supposed that all he needed to know about ending up in the future First Lady’s car was that Donna had once again taken control and made sure he ended up where he needed to be.

So, he sat on one side of the backseat, while Donna sat on the other, and Helen sat facing across from her.

The two women were going through the next day’s schedule, and what, if anything, still needed to be done that night. Helen was eager to get back to her makeshift home and see her kids, and so they decided that there was nothing pressing enough to keep them at the office too late tonight.

Josh wasn’t really paying attention to their conversation. He wasn’t part of their staff, so he just kept his head down while reading his briefing memo, thankful for the ride.

He pretty much tuned them both completely out until Helen stopped talking about work and started talking about their personal lives.

Josh still wasn’t really one hundred percent listening while she went on about her husband and her kids. It wasn’t until she turned to conversation towards Donna that he started paying attention.

“Got any big plans for tonight?”

“Ma’am?”

“Donna, we’re done talking about work, stop calling me ma’am. It makes me feel old.”

“Okay,” Donna smiled.

“So, let me live vicariously through you. Got any big plans tonight? A hot date perhaps?”

Josh felt his heart beat a little faster, but he was careful not to move an inch.

“Uh…”

“Donna,” Helen jumped at the opportunity after Donna hesitated for just a second too long, “are you seeing somebody?”

“Yes,” Donna was casual yet confident in her answer.

At that very moment, Josh wished he was literally anywhere else in the world.

“Do go on,” Helen prompted. “Tell me all about this mystery man. Unless maybe he’s not a mystery man. Do I know him?”

Josh’s heart was pounding now, and his stomach was doing flips. He wished he could just melt into the car door, out of sight out of mind. He wasn’t sure why this conversation was making him nervous; they had agreed they wouldn’t keep their new relationship a secret. Although, with all the hustle and bustle of the last two weeks, they barely got to spend any time together outside of the office anyways. It didn’t exactly surprise him that people hadn’t caught on to them yet.

“He’s a good man,” Donna started, “but he’s also a pretty private one. I’m not sure how he’d react to me revealing his secret identity. Although, I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough.”

They had agreed to wait on telling their bosses about them. There was so much going on in their lives already, the pair didn’t want to overwhelm the family with any nonessential information. They figured it could wait, at least until they got the First Family settled.

“You like him,” Helen smirked. “You like him a lot.”

Josh could practically feel Donna smile, even though his eyes were still trained on the memo.

“You could say that.”

Helen sat back and tapped her fingers against her cheek for a minute.

“Is it Sam Seaborn? He’s very cute.”

Josh rolled his eyes. Luckily no one noticed.

“No,” Donna laughed, finding the notion of her and Sam utterly ridiculous. “Sam is an old friend, and he’s one of the good ones, but no it’s not him.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t tell me if it was, would you?”

“Probably not, no.”

The two women shared a smile and Helen seemed to relax a little. Donna stared out the window and smiled to herself at the ridiculousness of her boss asking her about her boyfriend who happened to be sitting right next to her.

Josh, on the other hand, was not at all relaxed. He thought he would feel better after Donna didn’t reveal him to Helen, but he only felt worse. He felt sad and a little bit frustrated, but nothing topped the feeling in his chest – a feeling he would later recognize as jealousy – when Helen Santos decided in her head that Donna Moss was definitely dating Sam Seaborn.

What Josh did next; he had no control over.

He didn’t think about it, he just did it right there in the car.

Without looking up from his briefing memo, he slowly reached his hand across the backseat of the car. He found Donna’s hands in her lap, and laced his fingers with hers, letting their newly joined hands rest on the seat between them.

He could practically feel Donna’s blush all the way down in her fingertips, and he could sense the wide-eyed stare Helen was giving him.

The three of them sat stunned into silence for what seemed like forever (actually forty-five seconds) until the car rolled to a stop outside the transition offices.

As soon as the agent opened the backdoor of the car, Sam was standing there with a file.

“Josh,” Sam started, “you need – Hello Mrs. Santos, hey Donna – you need to see this, now.”

Josh, in one swift motion, squeezed Donna’s hand, let it go, grabbed the file from Sam, hopped out of the car, and was striding down the halls of the transition offices with Sam hot on his heels.

The men were already long gone by the time the women stepped out of the car. Donna was still trying to find the right words to describe whatever the hell just happened when Helen snaked her arm through Donna’s and led her down the halls of the transition offices in the opposite direction.

“Oh my God!” Helen whisper yelled. “I mean oh my God!”

“I know,” was all Donna could come up with.

“You’re _dating_ Josh Lyman!” the whisper yelling continued.

“I know,” again was all she could come up with.

Helen sat Donna down in her office chair and closed the door behind them.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before a huge grin spread across Helen’s face.

“Tell me _everything_.”

*

Two hours later, the offices were finally slowing down for the night. The President-Elect met with his senior staff briefly before he dismissed them all and told them to go home for the night. Sam clapped Josh on the back on his way out in the back of the small crowd and left the two men alone.

“Are we done for the night, Josh?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Excellent,” Matt started to pack up his briefcase.

“Actually, sir,” Josh started, not knowing how in the hell to casually bring this up. “There’s one more thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What’s up?”

“It’s… personal.”

Matt stopped instantly. He couldn’t remember Josh ever wanting to talk about something personal with him. Ever.

He motioned for them to sit down.

“Normally, I wouldn’t bring it up, but I have a feeling you’re gonna hear about it when you get home.”

“Why?”

“Because your wife already knows what I’m about to tell you.”

“My wife knows everything first,” Matt laughed, “it’s half the reason I married her.”

“Be that as it may,” Josh tried to continue, “I’d rather you hear this from me.”

“Is it bad?” Matt asked concerned.

“No,” Josh replied quickly, “it’s not bad. It’s actually pretty great…”

“So, what is it?”

“Uh…” Josh swallowed hard. “I’m kind of… dating… Donnatella Moss.”

Matt stared at Josh for a solid six seconds before a smile crept across his face.

“You’re _dating_ the chicken fighter?”

Josh winced at the nickname. “Yes.”

“Ha!” Matt clapped. “Thank God.”

“Sir?”

“I was starting to worry you weren’t gonna have any fun at all during this whole thing.”

Josh’s cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink.

“Tell me,” Matt continued, “were you dating her when you sent the chickens?”

Josh actually laughed at that one. “No, sir.”

“Oh, I’ve _gotta_ hear this story,” Matt laughed back. “My campaign manager somehow manages to find himself a girlfriend in the midst of the closest election in recent history without anyone noticing. Yeah, I definitely gotta hear this.”

“Well, this story is actually a lot longer than I’d like to admit,” Josh said sheepishly, “and I am far too tired to do it any justice tonight.”

Matt frowned. “You’re really not gonna tell me.”

“Ask me again after the first hundred days.”

“C’mon, we can have a beer – I’m sure someone around here has some – and relax and I can finally hear you talk about something that isn’t politics for a change. It’ll be fun!”

“You need to sleep, Mr. President-Elect,” Josh said with a smile as he swung his backpack over his shoulder, “and frankly, so do I.”

“You’re no fun, you know that?” Matt said as he closed his briefcase.

“In my defense, I actually _do_ know that.”

“Is Donna still here?”

Josh checked his phone and saw no messages saying she went home.

“I think so.”

“Fantastic,” Matt said as he led Josh down the hallway towards her office. “Maybe she’ll tell me the story.”

“Mr. President-Elect, I -”

They both stopped when they heard laughter coming from Donna’s office.

Matt looked at Josh. Josh shrugged.

The two men continued walking until they came across the slightly ajar door to Donna’s office.

Matt slowly pushed it open more, and they found Donna and Helen laughing and drinking beers.

“You see this?” Matt asked Josh. “They know how to have fun.”

Josh rolled his eyes.

“Hi honey,” Helen said as she finally spotted her husband. “Ready to go?”

“Yes,” he smiled back at her.

Josh met Donna’s eyes and raised his eyebrows, silently asking her the same question.

She smiled and nodded slightly in return.

“Looks like I’m gonna hear the story after all,” Matt whispered to Josh as the women packed up their things.

“Yeah,” Josh agreed, “I’m not at all looking forward to seeing you tomorrow now.”

Matt chuckled and helped his wife into her coat.

The four of them walked together to the front of the building where they said their goodbyes. Josh and Donna turned down the sidewalk to walk towards Josh’s (now their) apartment.

Matt and Helen watched as the other couple walked away. Josh had his hand resting lightly on Donna’s back, the same way he always had it when he walked with her. Only this time, Donna slowly snaked her arm around his waist, and in return he moved his arm up and around her shoulders.

“Tell me what you know woman,” Matt jokingly demanded as they climbed into their waiting car.

“Should I start with how that” she gestured in the general direction Josh and Donna were walking, “whole thing happened, or how I found out about it.”

Matt grinned.

“Start with whatever I can use to embarrass Josh tomorrow in front of Sam and Lou.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah idk what this is but it's be swimming around my head for four days now so I had to write it down. Thanks for reading.
> 
> As always, comments fuel my ego.
> 
> If you wanna chat you can find me on tumblr at sam-loves-seb


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